Generation Godless?

for obvious reasons, this is good news. the Millennial generation has grown up online, and as such, have been exposed to so much more than previous generations. no longer will the masses be taught all they need to know in their churches. and the effect is predictable. when smart young people have questions, they can find the answers. Atheism follows.

Replies to This Discussion

I remember something someone said: "The internet is the place where religions go to die". I take it that the more information is readily available (and the internet is good at this) the more people realize what religion really is.

I'm equally excited that this is great news. However, I agree with Tyler Holmstrom's post above that "simply doubting the existence of God isn't tantamount to disbelieving in anything supernatural." There's a lot of other crazy beliefs some people have that have nothing to do with a traditional type of god, i.e. spirits/ghosts, life-forces, karma, world government conspiracies, ancient alien earth civilizations, astrology, etc. Hopefully a healthy dose of skepticism about god will lead to questions and skepticism about other beliefs as well. While it's true that the internet has been a great tool in reducing religious belief, we have to remember that the internet is also saturated with any and all types of woo-woo imaginable; some of it very convincingly presented if you don't do your homework. Silver lining: even if some of these other beliefs may still linger on, at least they don't have the negative and pervasive influence on politics and social policy that traditional religions have, which to me is most important.

true, and in the end it comes down to trusted sources. there will always be crackpots, and they will have their trusted sources to back up their insane beliefs. but i think that a skeptical mind will naturally seek out information on all sides, and pick which source makes sense. ultimately this is a great trend that illustrates that this is already happening, and quicker than i would have thought.

I had not thought that internet could make the young atheists, but I do believe this. The varied knowledge and the exposure they get to different thoughts may make them freethinkers. This seems to be happening. Good news.